Believe it or not HR has a lot to do with the onboarding of retail staff. While most retailers have trainers with multiple locations it makes it difficult to be there to train every new hire and that’s where HR comes in. The number 1 tip when it comes to the onboarding process is CONSISTENCY! Giving that new employee a WOW experience is undeniably setting them up for success.
Retail staff are normally hourly employees and one of the things that they appreciate more than anything else is being properly put into the system and receiving their first paycheck without a glitch. A checklist that goes over crucial steps of the onboarding process ensures that nothing is missed and can even determine when a step of the onboarding process should be done. When the onboarding process is completed both the employee and manager should sign the checklist. What this does is it makes accountable both the new employee as well as the manager/supervisor who is ensuring that the onboarding is completed.
Managers and supervisors that spend time directly with new staff help them to understand the company culture and really set the expectation for performance and company policies. They also have an opportunity to revisit those company policies to make sure that they are clearly understood. When new employees are excited to get started and are asked to sign a lot of paperwork their first day, one of the biggest mistakes I have observed is that people don’t read what they are signing. When you don’t understand the rules of the game it makes it hard to win the game.
Managers/supervisors who find out the best way to communicate and give feedback to new employees are building strong relationships that lead to success in the workplace.
The majority of retail employees who start a new position want to do a good job or else they wouldn’t have been hired. It is now up to the organization to ensure their success by giving them all the tools they need to be successful.
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